Since your potential and current clients can’t physically touch or see your products online, having a well-lit and clear photograph can best represent your products / services. Follow these tips below to help avoid this!

EQUIPMENT

You don’t need to have the latest camera equipment shipped straight from Japan to have great looking images. Understanding your camera’s settings and functions can really make the difference between a sharp and out of focused shot. An overexposed or a well balanced lit shot. Put some time and work into your shots, don’t be afraid to research. Hiring a professional is an option if you want consistency and avoiding the fuss!

LIGHTING

Nothing looks worse than having a poorly lit photograph. Often details become lost and colours are not true to their representation. Understanding how to use flash can really knock this problem. Learn how to bounce and diffuse light. Alternatively you can use sunlight and diffuse the light with a white cloth to soften the shadow transition of your products. Have a quick Google search on photography tips and techniques depending on your equipment.

KEEP IT SIMPLE, SILLY!

Get your product in a position that showcases itself and the usage. Avoid visual distractions that have nothing to do with the product or service. The photograph itself should be able to sell itself without words attached. Photographing it on a basic background such as white seamless or clutter free environments puts the focus on your product!

GO FAR, GET CLOSE

Don’t be afraid to experiment with different angles and perspectives. Give some macro settings a go and get real close up on the product’s detail. Have a wide perspective shot of the product as a whole to really emphasize what it looks like. Experiment!

These are just some tips that will help you along with your online products / services and represent them in the best light possible. Photography is a crucial component that builds your company’s brand and image.

Businesses and clients who have their photographs professionally taken improves their creditability and enhances their brand image overall. To the everyday people, it might seem like point and *click*! But from pre to postproduction, taking staff photograph requires preparation, a creative eye and basic knowledge of your camera setting.

A website that showcases their staff through professional photographs creates a positive connection between its viewer and to the company’s brand. A nicely lit smile in an image adds a face to the company and shares that feeling of warmth and cookies to your potential and current clients. Inversely, a poorly taken shot can leave a bad taste of cold coffee in the mouth of your company’s audience. Yuck!

Don’t worry! Preplanning your shot can avoid this catastrophe. Here’s a few tips on creating that nicely polish photograph for your next staff photo shoot! Horrah!

PREPARATION

Before you bake a cake, you gather all the ingredients and utensils right? The same applies for your camera equipment. Make sure your camera is recharged, memory card ready, tripod, flash equipped and your positive thinking cap on! Always have extra batteries and cards in case Murphy’s Law happens to pay you a visit.

DISCUSS

It’s a great idea to discuss to your client what they’re looking for, how they want to be represented and what attitude the want people to see them. From then you can style the photograph based on their image branding. Ask them to show examples of photographs on how they’d like to see themselves and how to represent the company. Are they a chilled-taking-it-easy kind of workplace, or is it high-end corporate that illuminates the brand?

LOCATION

Possibly one of the most important aspects to the photograph is the location. Will it be in studio or outdoor? At the local beach? Understand what the client wants and work from there. Have a walk around their office, any great shutter spots? Always focus on the subject and background, do you think it looks too distracting?

CAMERA SETTINGS

Learning the basics and understanding your camera’s Aperture, Shutter speed, ISO are very crucial. Here’s some tips for each setting;

Aperture (Also know as f-stop) – This beautiful setting determines how much light is gathered into the camera and how much of your subject in focus. For corporate photographs, you want the focus on the person’s face and the background to be less distracting. Having it set on somewhere near f/4 or f/5.6 can keep your subject in focus whilst the background out-of-focus.

Shutter Speed – Exactly how it sounds, it dictates long the shutter stays open. You want to make sure all aspect of the subject to be crisp and still, a fast shutter captures the image perfectly still whilst inversely a long shutter shows motion and loses detail in the photograph. Stick around 1/250 to 1/160 depending on your lighting and set up.

ISO – Indicates the sensitivity of light. Having your ISO locked up to 1000 ISO or more can sometimes create unwanted noise which degrades the quality of the image. Having this setting below 800 ISO can help avoid this depending on the quality of your camera.

SUBJECT

Often you’ll be dealing with people who are often awkward and shy in front of the camera. Comfort them by having a small introduction and a chit chat, ask how’s their day been and just channel some positive energy if they are stiff as a carrot. Always throw some positive messages like “you look gorgeous”, “wow, really like your smile in that shot” throughout the shoot. Always keep it positive!

Also avoid sending negative comments; they’ll become harder to soften in front of the photo and often their facial become forced and unnatural. Rather telling them what they are doing wrong, suggest different movements and improves to resolve the situation.

CAPTURE THE MOMENT

Having yourself set up prepared and working naturally with your clients will contribute to capturing more professional standard photograph. Constantly engage with them and actively keep a look out of their pose, facial expressions and environment. Keeping a constant eye out will help prevent any unwanted mid facial expressions and awkward blinking.

From these tips build a photographic workflow and keep it positive and professional. Keep researching online and get a fair understanding the style and standard of corporate images. In no time, you’ll be more confident and shooting for the top companies of the world. Remember, preparation and positive thinking!

Chocolate slices, lemon tarts and warm coffee were my models for today’s photoshoot at Betty Blue + The Lemon Tart. I wanted to capture the deliciousness of the caramel slices, the warmth of fresh coffee and the calm ambience of the small nested café in the outskirts of the CBD.

By using a shallow aperture on my brick sized camera, I was able to bring focus on a particular part of the photograph. Giving that blurred surrealistic perspective and sharpened focus on the sweet and tantalizing treats. There was a huge selection of baked goods, snacks and vibrant coffee mugs to trigger the shutterbug within me.

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